Test planned of Balcombe well in England

Angus Energy Plc, London, will begin testing a sidetracked appraisal of the Balcombe oil field discovery in southern England “at the earliest opportunity” after becoming operator via farm-in.

It has entered a definitive agreement to form a new partnership with the existing licensees, Cuadrilla Balcombe Ltd and Lucas Bolney Ltd, through acquisition of a 25% interest in PEDL 244. Cuadrilla now owns 75%, Lucas Bolney the remainder.

Angus Energy Weald Basin No 3 Ltd. agreed to pay £2 million initially and £2 million following Oil and Gas Authority approval of the deal and to conduct and pay for testing of the Balcombe-2Z horizontal well.

If testing is successful, Angus will pay for submission of a field development plan.

The well is in a conventional reservoir and will not be hydraulically fractured, a possibility which has provoked local opposition.

Angus says the licence covers the centre of the thickest section of the Jurassic Kimmeridge Clay in the Weald basin.

The Conoco Balcombe-1 discovery cut 568 metres of the formation, including thick micritic limestone layers, in 1986.

Drilling of the Balcome-2 well and Balcombe-2Z sidetrack was completed in September 2013, with vertical depth of 2,200 feet and 1,714 feet of horizontal penetration of Kimmeridge Upper Limestone.

The field is eight kilometres south-east of Crawley near the village of Balcombe. Oil occurs on the downthrown side of the Borde Hill Fault with dip closure to the east and west at the Upper Jurassic level.

The test will assess flowing production rates for oil and gas, flowing bottomhole and wellhead pressures, GOR, fluid qualities, and shut-in bottomhole pressure over about a month.

After Angus acquires its interest, Cuadrilla Balcombe will hold 56.25%, and Lucas Bolney will hold 18.75%.